Description: Obverse:
The variety shows very strong doubling of the obverse on REPVBLICA ITALINA, the laurel
leaves in the wreath on Italias head, some hairlines, esp., at the top of the head,
the inscription below the truncation, and the rim on the right side of the coin. Reverse: The reverse displays very strong doubling of much of the
profile of the goddess Minerva, sprig in right hand, spear in the left hand, the
denomination; L.100, the "R" Mint mark and rim on right side. The lack of any
doubling of the date indicates that it was undoubtedly entered into the otherwise
completed die in a separate operation independent of the conditions that caused the hub
doubling to occur on the balance of the design.

Additional Comments: Hub doubling is
possible due to a phenomenon known as work hardening. This causes the metal of the face of
a die to become too hard and too brittle to allow a complete image to be sunk into the die
in one operation without causing it to crack or shatter (during the multiple hubbing
process). As a result, several impressions or hubbings are required to produce a die when
using this process. (The multiple hubbing process was replaced in many world Mints recent
years by the more modern "single squeeze" hubbing process. The process
now employed in the Italian Mints is currently unknown to this writer). Between each
hubbing the die is removed from the press and annealed (softened) thus allowing for
another impression without shattering the die. If for some reason a partially finished die
is reinstalled into a press for strengthening and the hub and die is improperly indexed,
resulting in a misalignment of images, or if the hub varies in design from the one(s) used
for earlier impressions -- hub doubling will result.